Containers used to store cosmetics, such as compacts, are well known in the prior art. Some compacts are airtight to prevent dry, powdery cosmetic material from absorbing moisture from the air, or conversely, to prevent supermoisturized cosmetic material from losing moisture to the air. Compacts having airtight closures are well known in the prior art. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,454,889 and 5,186,318.
Closure means which produce an audible sound such as a click to indicate when a container is completely closed are also well known in the prior art. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,186,344 and 5,197,616. These audible closure means are more often used in connection with containers for medications, including child-proof containers, than in connection with containers for cosmetics.
Conventional cosmetic containers suffer from several drawbacks. A commonly encountered problem is that if the compact is not properly closed, then when the compact is placed in a jacket pocket or, as is more often the case, in a pocketbook, a portion of the cosmetic material can unintentionally fly out from the compact thereby wasting this material and possibly staining and thus damaging any surfaces upon which the material lands. Another problem commonly encountered with conventional cosmetic compacts is that a significant amount of force must be applied to open the compact which can result in injuries to the person opening the container such as broken nails and/or abrasions. In addition, the application of this force can result in some of the stored material unintentionally flying out of the container with the aforementioned undesired consequences. A final disadvantage encountered with certain conventional cosmetic compacts is that if the cover and the base are not attached to one another, the cover can often be misplaced, or if the cover and the base are attached to one another, the attachment is relatively weak so that repeated opening and closing of the container results in a weakening and eventual breaking of the attachment.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a compact which includes means for producing an audible signal to indicate when the compact is completely closed. It is also an object of this invention to provide a compact having a cover and base which are attached to one another and which can be opened and closed without the application of a significant amount of force by slidably rotating the cover about the base.